Marlon Brando

Marlon Brando (3 April 1924-1 July 2004) was an American actor, director, and political activist, known for his activism with the Civil Rights movement and the Native American rights movement during the 1960s and 1970s. In 1973, he turned down an Oscar in response to the Wounded Knee standoff.

Biography
Marlon Brando was born in Omaha, Nebraska on 3 April 1924, and he lived in Evanston, Illinois until 1935, in Santa Ana, California from 1935 to 1937, and in Libertyville, Illinois after 1937. His father, a chemical manufacturer, was emotionally abusive, and Brando's mother moved the family to Santa Ana for two years before reconciling with her husband and moving back to Illinois. He attended the Shattuck Military Academy in response to his misbehaving at school, only to drop out of school in 1943 after showing insubordination to a colonel (despite being supported by the student body). A football injury ensured that he could not serve in the US Army during World War II, and he instead followed his sisters to New York City, where he became an actor. He starred as Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire during the late 1940s, and he played the same role in the 1951 film, making it his breakthrough role. In 1952, he portrayed Emiliano Zapata in Viva Zapata!, and he appeared in On the Waterfront in 1954, another major film role. During the late 1950s, he struggled due to poor reviews, and he suffered from box office decline from 1963 to 1971.

In 1960, Brando attended fundraisers for Democratic Party presidential candidate John F. Kennedy, and he took part in the 1963 March on Washington. He donated money to the Black Panther Party until it became a radical group, and he was arrested at a Native American "fish-in" in 1964. That same year, he favored a boycott of his films in South Africa due to his opposition to apartheid. In 1973, after his lauded role in The Godfather, he turned down an Oscar award in reaction to the Wounded Knee standoff, protesting against the US government's actions against Native American tribes. After the release of The Missouri Breaks in 1976, he settled for highly-paid cameo roles, and he appeared in films such as Superman. The notorious "bad boy" Brando, who had faced several family issues and had become obese, died from congestive heart failure on 1 July 2004 in Westwood, California.